Jiří Stivín

Czech flutist, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, band leader, originally cinematographer. Born November 23, 1942 in Prague (former Czechoslovakia). 1961–1962 one of the pioneers of Czechoslovak rock music as a member of Sputnici. Founder of Jazz Q in the mid-1960s. Father of Adam Stivín, Jiří Stivín (2), Markéta Stivínová and Zuzana Stivínová; cousin of Milan Svoboda. Stivín has been interpreting pre-classical music on the recorder since 1975. After graduating from the cinematography department of the Prague Film Academy (FAMU), he devoted himself exclusively to music. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music as well as at the Prague Academy of Music, where he studied composition. Stivín performs music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque periods. He has recorded flute concertos and has mastered all kinds of flutes and recorders. He has also been intensely involved in jazz, composition, and in the improvisational New Music, using saxophone, clarinet, flute, recorder, and several kinds of folk pipes.